1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to safety gates and, more particularly, to a safety gate with a clamp adjustment mechanism for extending the length or width of the safety gate and securely installing the safety gate in an opening.
2. Description of Related Art
Safety gates for preventing children and pets from accessing specific areas in a home or dwelling, such as a stairwell or a particular doorway, are well known in the art. Conventional safety gates, such as the one disclosed in expired U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,263, generally have overlapping panels and tubes that are widthwise slidably adjustable to extend the width of a particular opening. The tubes or panels have end caps or feet that engage the surfaces of the opening or doorway when the gate is installed. The end caps or feet are typically installed under compression between the surfaces of the doorway or opening to secure the safety gate in place.
Conventional safety gates tend to be rather bulky and have a rudimentary adjustment system with relatively large adjustment increments. As a result, safety gates can be difficult to transport and/or store and can be time consuming and frustrating to set-up. Such safety gates can also be difficult to adjust to precisely fit a given opening. Often, the gate can be adjusted incrementally to fit different opening sizes. However, the adjustment sizes can be limited by the relatively large gap between available size increments. The actual opening size to be barricaded often falls between two adjustment increments. Thus, the gate may be under too much, which may damage the surfaces of the opening, or under too little compression and thus not fully secured in place when installed.
Clamp mechanisms are also well known in the art. Conventional clamp mechanisms, such as the one disclosed in expired U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,134, generally include a fixed jaw and a movable jaw. When the clamp mechanism is actuated, the movable jaw moves towards the fixed jaw to clamp an item between the jaws. A squeezing action on a grip, handle, or actuator is typically employed to allow for small incremental adjustment of the clamp jaw spacing relative to one another.